The present invention relates in general to motor-pump assemblies, and more particularly to a vertical axis motor-pump assembly for an agitator-type clothes washing machine.
It is known to provide an agitator-type clothes washing machine with a motor having a vertical drive shaft with upper and lower ends that extend above and below the top and bottom end bells of the motor casing. The lower end of the drive shaft carries a pulley for rotating the input shaft of a belt driven transmission actuating an associated agitator and spin tub. The upper end of the drive shaft has fixed to it an impeller located within a water pump casing positioned above the motor, the water pump casing having two halves that fit together to define a pump chamber containing the pump impeller. A dishlike drip shield is positioned underneath the pump so as to be located between the pump and the motor so that any water leaking downwardly from the pump is diverted away from the motor. Appropriate fasteners, such as a plurality of self-tapping screws, hold the two pump casing halves together, hold the pump casing in position on the drip shield, and hold the drip shield in position on the top end bell of the motor.
In order to service the pump, all or most of the above-noted screws must be removed, and then the pump casing halves must be separated to permit access to the pump impeller which is fixed to the upper distal end of the motor drive shaft. The impeller can then be removed and repaired or replaced wherein the pump must be reassembled, and then reinstalled in its position on the drip shield.
It would be desirable to provide a simpler, more readily serviceable motor-pump assembly that would include a disposable or "throw-away" water pump.
Such "throw-away" type motor-pump assemblies are known in the art as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,841. The '841 patent illustrates a horizontal axis motor-pump assembly for an agitator-type clothes washing machine, the assembly including a disposable pump held in position on the end of the motor drive shaft, and on the end bell of the associated motor, by a pair of metal spring clips. Because the motor-pump assembly is of the horizontal axis type, any water leaking from the pump will not drip onto the motor, therefore no drip shield is needed.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide a vertical axis motor-pump assembly having a disposable or "throw-away" pump wherein a drip shield is provided to preclude water leakage onto the underlying motor. Such a motor-pump assembly should be easy to disassemble and reassemble so as to facilitate removal and replacement of the disposable water pump.